Things got chippy at public meetings around Virginia during November. There were allegations of assault in Loudoun County, slurs and epithets in Frederick County, lawsuits and more allegations of assault in Spotsylvania, a "trial" to expel a member in Mineral, and arguments over minutes in Augusta and Stafford counties. And the last-second addition of agenda items that are voted on on the spot sure didn't help.

And then there's the UVA report. *SIGH*

On the up side, several Virginia cities were recognized for their digital delivery of services, and databases were launched to improve information flow about solar and data center projects. Plus, the FOIA Council issued three opinions, the most in one month since February.

Don't forget: VCOG's annual conference is April 3, 2025, in Harrisonburg (stay tuned for details).
 

Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. entered into a plea agreement with the Albemarle County Commonwealth's Attorney for shooting three University of Virginia football players. The agreement ostensibly closes the books on the horrific incident, save for the punishment, which a judge will decide on in February.

The independent investigation commissioned by the Board of Visitors about the events leading up to and after the incident will not, however, be forthcoming until then.

As you'll recall, the university received the completed report in October 2023 but said it would not release it until it could be reviewed "to ensure factual accuracy." By Nov. 1 of that year, the university denied a FOIA request for the report filed by The Daily Progress, saying the report was "written advice of legal counsel" and other information protected by attorney-client privilege. Less that three weeks later, the school moved the goalposts again, saying that the report should not be released until after the criminal proceedings against Jones to ensure his fair trial in Albemarle.

For the past year, The Daily Progress has been fighting for release of the report. It filed suit against UVA, but right before the case went to trial, the Albemarle Commonwealth's Attorney  was allowed to intervene and convinced the judge, again, that releasing the report would jeopardize Jones' right to a fair trial.

Remember: the family has not seen this report, much less the students deeply affected by the incident or the general public.

Now comes Jones' guilty plea. There is no fair trial in jeopardy, no jury pool to taint. But the report? Still not forthcoming. According to a university spokesman, it can't be released until after Jones' sentencing in February.

FOIA says records can be withheld if an exemption can be applied or if another law prohibits release. So, let's be clear about the many ways UVA made up its own rules about how FOIA works and what it says.

1. There's no FOIA exemption, procedure or other law that allowed the university to hold onto a record simply to "review" it for "factual accuracy."
2. Given Virginia Supreme Court precedent on attorney-client privilege, it's doubtful the entire independent fact-finding review could be withheld. At the very least, a redacted version should have been released on Nov. 1, 2023.
3. There's no FOIA exemption, procedure or other law that allows a public record to be withheld by one public body because of its impact on another public body -- even a criminal proceeding. If the legislature wants to create such a safe haven, it can and it knows how to, but it hasn't.
4. There's no FOIA exemption, procedure or other law that allows a public record to be withheld by one public body while waiting for the actions of another public body -- even a criminal sentencing determination. Again, the legislature could do that, but it hasn't.

UVA’s handling of this tragedy has undermined public trust, and it’s time they release the report without further delay. The families — and the public — deserve a full accounting.

The FOIA Council reviewed the working papers exemption regarding voting rights restoration records requested from the governor. It clarified that the exemption isn’t a blanket rule and doesn’t apply if records are shared outside the office. The council added that denials must specify the volume and subject of withheld records, but the council declined to say whether the exemption was properly used.

The council clarified that FOIA doesn’t limit access to records due to attorney-client or principal-agent relationships, which Virginia law supports. This opinion arose from a lawyer and her paralegal requesting scholastic records on behalf of parents of special education students under FOIA, and the council confirmed there is no conflict between these legal roles and FOIA’s provisions.

The council could not say definitively whether the Goochland County Volunteer Fire Rescue Association was a public body subject to FOIA. It gave an extensive description of of when and how an entity would be considered "wholly or principally" supported by public funds but noted that information on the association's finances was from 2021, not 2023 when the association asked for a council opinion.

Governing magazine released its 24th annual Digital Cities Survey, ranking the 10 best cities in each of five population categories that are "utilizing technology to enhance digital services and transparency, strengthen cybersecurity, digital privacy rights, and digital equity." 
Virginia winners include...

     Virginia Beach (3rd) for population of 250,000 - 499,999: 
     Hampton (10th) for population of 125,000 - 249,999
     Lynchburg and Roanoke (tied for 5th) for population of 75,000 - 124,999
     Williamsburg (4th), Danville (tied for 5th) for population of up to 75,000

Congratulations to all!

Six months after Spotsylvania County School Board Lisa Phelps swore out a criminal complaint against her fellow board member, Nicole Cole, for assault and battery, and four months after a judge acquitted her, Cole served Phelps and another board member, April Gillespie, with a complaint accusing them of five charges, including malicious prosecution and defamation per se. The complaint seeks $1 million in damages. Phelps' original complaint stemmed from an incident during a closed meeting of the board where she said Cole slammed a door into her shoulder and tried to trip her. Meanwhile, Gillespie reported to the school division's FOIA officer that she recorded over the video she says she took at another public meeting where she alleged an officer with the county sheriff slammed a door on her arm. Also in November, the board voted to deny Phelps' request to participate in a work session from a remote location. Chair Lorita Daniels said Phelps did not follow the board's policy for remote participation because she did not notify the chair in advance or state the reason why she could not attend in person. Daniels said Phelps' email to the board clerk was insufficient.

After censuring Council Member David Hempstead in October for alleged harassment of town staff and colleagues, the Mineral Town Council held a "trial" in November and unanimously voted to expel him from the council for negligence of duty, misconduct of office, misuse of office, and multiple violations of the town’s code and council’s civility pledge. Hempstead called the council's process, which was based on Robert's Rules of Order, a "kangaroo court" and pledged to get the attorney general's office involved.

The Augusta County Board of Supervisors argued over the wording of minutes from a January meeting. Approval of the minutes was placed on the Nov. 14 consent agenda, but when one supervisor asked to have them removed and placed on the regular agenda, the board chair said Robert's Rules of Order compelled him to reject the "dilatory" request. The supervisor has said he will not vote on minutes that do not include reference to the chair's appointment and his response to questions about body cameras for police, the local animal shelter, live streaming of zoning appeal board and planning commission meetings, and retaliation against an employee who spoke at a board meeting as a private citizen.

Members of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors have been sparring over a single word in the minutes of their July 10 meeting where they voted to remove a citizen member of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library Board of Trustees. The minutes state that the member was removed for "misconduct," but according to Supervisor Monica Gary, there was no evidence of misconduct. The board voted in November to remove Gary from the library board, too, even though other members acknowledged that the citizen library board member's conduct likely didn't rise to misconduct.

Without any prior announcement, the Arlington County Board of Supervisors added an agenda item to its Nov. 19 meeting and voted on it. The item was the final order of business and it was a vote to appeal a judge's ruling in a case brought by citizens to stop issuing any more permits under the so-called Missing Middle zoning plan. Meanwhile, at its Nov. 17, the Stafford County Board of Supervisors added an item to its closed session agenda to discuss the performance of a board meeting. When they came out of closed session, they voted to remove that member from the library board of trustees.

George Mason University released 58 documents to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Foundation four days after the advocacy group threatened a FOIA lawsuit against the university for its delay of more than eight months in delivering the documents. Just two weeks after submitting its request in February, PETA paid a $700 estimate for the documents, yet did not hear from GMU again for more than six months. The university's "Chief Brand Officer," chalked up the problem to a "breakdown on [sic] communication internally" about whether the check had been received.

Senator David Marsden convened his summit on issues surrounding the 2020 legislation dubbed the Virginia Clean Economy Act. The summit came months after Marsden recruited stakeholders to participate with the promise that he would withhold records he received as exempt under FOIA's working papers exemption.

The Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia launched the Virginia Solar Database, which aggregates publicly available information on more than 490 solar projects that have been advertised for a public hearing. The database culls information from local governments, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality permitting records, State Corporation Commission records, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a regional transmission organization, plus materials from the press, utility, industry/developer and stakeholder media.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality published a new online listing of the various permits and approvals data centers need from the agency. A DEQ spokesperson alluded to FOIA as a motivating factor behind the resource, noting "it is very time consuming to locate and pull permits for each data center when they are requested." Additionally, the permits are sometimes "too large to send through email." The proactive disclosure of information means “reporters, academics, and other nonprofits no longer need to repeatedly request this information through Freedom of Information Act requests,” according to the Piedmont Environmental Council.

A report released by the Richmond inspector general found misuse of city-issued purchasing cards by the Richmond registrar and others in his office. For instance, the report details hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on office renovations that sidestepped the usual procurement process by being broken down into multiple smaller purchases.

A perennial candidate for elected offices in the Arlington area filed an age discrimination and defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post after the newspaper used public records to report that the candidate was 72 years old instead of 52, as the candidate disclosed on a questionnaire.

The Town of Smithfield took the unusual step of advertising for a public hearing before the planning commission held its own meeting on the same subject matter. The town manager downplayed concerns that the preemptive advertisement signaled that the planning commission's vote was a foregone conclusion.

The Lynchburg Police Department may be joining the growing number of law enforcement offices around the state that have started encrypting their radio transmissions. The fees have historically been public and are frequently used by the news media to report on crime and emergencies. The department said encryption was necessary to keep officers safe and to prevent bad actors from using what they learn from the public feed to commit crimes.

Seven medical marijuana companies are suing the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority over being denied a license to operate in the northwest region in the state. companies say the CCA used a "tainted lottery" to pick the sole licensee. Several of the applicants are also saying the CCA violated FOIA by not saying when the lottery would occur and that there was no record of the decision-making process or of the review committee's deliberations.

Relying in part on information taken from a third-party investigative report into the events leading up to the graduation-day shooting in Richmond that left two people dead, another man who was injured in the incident notified Richmond schools that he intends to sue the division. Richmond was forced to release the report when a judge ruled it was not exempt under FOIA.

Without any prior announcement, the Arlington County Board of Supervisors added an agenda item to its Nov. 19 meeting and voted on it. The item was the final order of business and it was a vote to appeal a judge's ruling in a case brought by citizens to stop issuing any more permits under the so-called Missing Middle zoning plan. Meanwhile, at its Nov. 17, the Stafford County Board of Supervisors added an item to its closed session agenda to discuss the performance of a board meeting. When they came out of closed session, they voted to remove that member from the library board of trustees.

After a citizen began her comments during the public comment portion of the Nov. 19 Frederick County School Board by saying, "Hey, retards," and then continued on to use slurs and profanity, the board called for a recess, but instead of staying put or going off on their own, the board members went into a room together and closed the door. A few minutes later, they asked the board's attorney to join them. The meeting resumed after around 15 minutes, though there was another recess when the speaker refused to yield her time.

A trial date for the whistleblower lawsuit filed against Richmond by the city's former FOIA officer, Connie Clay, has been set for September 2025, provided the suit makes it past a Jan. 29 hearing on the city's motion to dismiss. The inability of the attorneys on both sides to agree on a trial date prompted the judge to admonish them with, "This back-and-forth is not necessary. We're all grownups here. You're attorneys." Clay says she was fired for refusing to violate FOIA, but the city says she wasn't a good fit.

Police in Leesburg are investigating an allegation made by a member of the Loudoun County Democratic Committee that a county school board member bumped into her shoulder and hit her with a purse when she tried to record her after a meeting on the renaming of a middle school.

Following a policy unique to central Virginia, Richmond Police released the body-worn camera video of a fatal police shooting. Richmond's policy states that it will release body-worn camera footage of police shootings within two weeks of their occurrence.

A perennial candidate for elected offices in the Arlington area filed an age discrimination and defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post after the paper used public records to report that the candidate was 72 years old instead of 52, as the candidate disclosed on a candidate questionnaire.

A King George County supervisor objected to her colleague's attempt to adopt a county-wide mission and vision statement because it had not been presented to the public for input. She recalled the last time the statements were discussed that there had been a public process with "white boards and sticky notes." The statements' author insisted that he had feedback from their colleagues and insisted he was doing what citizens elected him to do.

The Roanoke County parent who was arrested in August 2023 for disorderly conduct at a county school board meeting over objections to a transgender policy was acquitted of disorderly conduct in circuit court. Despite an initial conviction in general district court, a seven-person jury found otherwise. "I don't think you acted appropriately," the judge added, "But clearly, I don't think you acted criminally."

The Hopewell treasurer, who is under indictment for charges of computer fraud and records forgery, was in hot water again when she reportedly blocked the city's access to its bank accounts just before payroll and other city expenditures were set to be paid. 

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